I'm a stay at home mama living in PDX with the hubs Chris, our two boys and two cats. We are living in (and slowly fixing up) our first house, a midcentury ranch. Jesus has captured my heart, and I am so thankful!
This little blog is mostly about our adventures as a family of four, with the possibility of a recipe or craftiness sprinkled in there.

look at these too!

Ready for a photo dump?
I know no better way to catch up on what we've been doing since our trip in September. This all feels like forever ago, the holidays really went by so quickly this year, and now it's almost March?!
Where has time gone?

We had "Friendsgiving" with all of our close friends:

Getting everyone to sit was interesting:(yes Bennett was dancing for the picture…that kid doesn't know what 'sit still' means)

The first Chrismassy thing we did was our annual trip to Zoo Lights with our friends The Hartmanns:

The zoo train wasn't running this year, so they created a new 'light tunnel' to make up for it.
It was pretty awesome:

Buck just wanted to touch all the lights:

Getting our Christmas tree:

Found the perfect one:

Decorating it:

The boys in a box admiring the tree:

Outside lights:

I love the coziness of having Christmas decorations up and the tree lights on instead of lamps, but isn't it funny how quickly we grow tired of it?

While at my mom's group before Christmas, the kids came and sang us Silent Night,
hand motions and all.
See Bennett in the front/left?

Our first snow of the year.
Buck was pretty excited:

Until Bennett pelted him with a snowball:

(classic brother move)

Chris had two weeks off so we took a few trips to the library:

And Chris fashioned an obstacle course one day during nap time:

We went on the Polar Express in Hood River with my whole family, how cute are the boys' elf pjs:(I hope they never grow out of them)

Santa with the cousins:

Their first ever visit to see Santa:(and his reindeer too!)
This Santa looked so much like Will Ferrel, it was kind of crazy:
Our Christmas Card:(Paperless Post is really the best)

Christmas Eve service at The Schnitz:

Buck and the sea of presents at my sister's house:
Photobooth fun:
Craziness always ensues at Chris' family Christmas with all the kids being so close in age.
This year Buck had to stand on all of the presents:
Wrapping gifts with Ember's help:
Gifts all set out for Christmas morning:
The best picture I got of these guys on Christmas morning:(I don't think these two have ever sat still at the same time)
Checking out his new puzzle:
Testing out our new things before breakfast:
My mom found a Fisher Price parking garage in great condition,
I'm not sure which one of us likes it more:
We had a New Years party with our friends and I put together a photobooth to document the occasion:
The kids weren't too interested in the Photo photobooth:
And we proved that we are photobooth-challenged:
Case in point:(at least he's got the cuteness factor going for him)
Happy New Year: